The American Veterinary Medical Association
(AVMA) at its annual meeting, this year held in Hawaii,
rejected a proposed resolution that would have made
it AVMA policy to place “a higher priority on
animal welfare when required to choose between animal
welfare and economic considerations." Instead,
the Association drafted and unanimously passed a counter
resolution which supports the "responsible use
of animals for human purposes." (The term "responsible"
was not defined.) The initial resolution was proposed
by Farm Sanctuary, which found that most of the 1,000
veterinarians surveyed in a nationwide poll oppose
industrialized agricultural practices supported by
the AVMA. Expressing a lack of surprise regarding
the vote, Farm Sanctuary President Gene Bauston said:
"The AVMA has a history of aligning itself with
agribusiness' economic interests and defending the
use of cruel factory farming practices to the detriment
of animal welfare.” The organization is urging
the AVMA to oppose “irresponsible” animal
production systems, including gestation and veal crates,
battery cages, and the force feeding of ducks for
foie gras.

The AVMA also denied a resolution to
oppose the “mechanical force feeding of ducks
and geese” for foie gras production. Animal
Rights Hawaii, Animal Rights International, and United
Poultry Concerns ran a full-page ad in the Honolulu
Advertiser during the annual meeting to condemn the
AVMA’s position on foie gras. (To view the ad,
visit: http://www.upc-online.org/ducks/71806avma.html
) The AVMA rejected a similar proposal last year.
Recent articles on the controversy over foie gras
can be found in the Miami New Times: http://tinyurl.com/kyb67
and The Hartford Courant: http://tinyurl.com/eu79p

Some 11,840 baby turkeys died while
being transported by Northwest Airlines in two separate
incidents during mid-July. The first occurred on July
13th, when more than 9,000 of about 11,500 chicks,
crowded onto a single flight from Detroit to San Francisco,
died from suffocation, overheating and dehydration.
The birds were being transported from a Hybrid Turkeys
farm in Canada to Zacky Farms in Fresno for breeding
purposes. Then, on July 19th, some 2,240 chicks sat
for hours in 108-degree weather after the Air Canada
flight they were on developed mechanical trouble.
(Northwest oversees cargo for Air Canada.) Nearly
all of the dead or dying chicks were thrown into a
trash compactor.
Northwest has apologized to Hybrid, which filed a
$107,000 claim with the airline, and said it is reviewing
shipping procedures with its employees. The Peninsula
Humane Society (of California) is considering pressing
charges against Northwest pending its investigation.
It is also looking for adopters for 40 surviving chicks.
The rest of the surviving birds were sent on to Zacky
Farms.

PROBE CONTINUES INTO DEATH OF TURKEYS BOUND FOR S.F.
AIRPORT
The Mercury News, Melissa McRobbie, July 26, 2006http://tinyurl.com/ek66v

3. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS DIE IN CALIFORNIA HEAT WAVE

Triple-digit temperatures baking California
since mid-July have resulted in the deaths of some
25,000 cattle and an estimated 700,000 chickens and
turkeys. Central California is home to over 2.5 million
cattle, with Tulare County being the top dairy county
in the country. Typically, there is a 5 to 9 percent
annual mortality rate in herds used for dairy production,
not all of which is heat related. Cows are said to
now be dying at about twice the usual July rate. State
law requires dead farmed animals be taken to rendering
plants for disposal due to pollution concerns. However,
some counties have approved emergency measures, allowing
animals to instead be buried, composted or sent to
landfills. With milk prices down and feed and energy
prices up, “The timing is horrendous,”
remarked Andy Zylstra, president of the California
Dairy Campaign.

California poultry are housed in ventilated, water-cooled
barns that keep the temperature at 76 degrees F (24
degrees C), according to Bill Mattos, President of
the California Poultry Association. "But when
the temperatures reach over 100 degrees F (38 degrees
C), it can be devastating to the smaller producer,"
he said.

Approximately 6,150 pigs perished in
a fire on June 25th at a 3-M Swine Inc. facility near
London, Ontario. The fire also caused millions of
dollars of damage: http://tinyurl.com/z45oq

Some 3,000 chickens died on July 4th
in Delaware when a fire started near the exhaust ventilation
fans of the building they were in: http://tinyurl.com/nmern

On July 5th, in North Carolina, an unknown
number of chickens were killed when an Allen Family
Foods barn holding 15,000 of the birds was destroyed
by fire. The cause was unknown but large electric
fans inside the barn may have contributed to the blaze:
http://tinyurl.com/jkc6k

On July 15th, fire tore through a building
in Oswestry (United Kingdom) housing 28,000 chickens,
thousands of whom died: http://tinyurl.com/oewbs

An estimated 200 young pigs died on
July 22nd at a remote location in Illinois when a
fire said to be electrical in nature destroyed the
metal building they were in. Several thousand pigs
are kept at the facility, which is operated by Carthage
Veterinary Service:http://www.whig.com/308378482690696.php

5.
VEGAN RUNNER IS AMERICA'S PRE-EMINENT ULTRAMARATHONER

Scott Jurek, “the pre-eminent American ultramarathoner”
eats only vegan food. Logging 70 to 80 miles on a
Saturday, he rises the next morning for another long
run. In under 26 hours, he just won his second California
Badwater Ultramarathon - a 135-mile race over 13,000
vertical feet (“which is like a flight of stairs
three miles high”) from Death Valley to the
base of Mount Whitney, where 120-degree temperatures
are said to be the norm. He skipped the Western States
race this year, which he has won every year from 1999-2005.
His record is unprecedented.

As mentioned in last week’s FAW
digest, Brazil is now the world’s largest producer
of soybeans, the production of which is destroying
the Amazon. U.S. agribusiness giants Cargill and Archer
Daniels Midland have announced that, for the next
two years, they will stop buying soybeans grown in
recently deforested areas of the Amazon. Additionally,
they will work with the Brazilian government to develop
regulations for growing the crop. A Greenpeace investigation
caused European supermarkets, food manufacturers,
and fast-food chains to begin pressuring their soy
providers into improving their production practices.
Details at: http://www.grist.org/news/daily/2006/07/25/

Following up on last week’s mention
of Campylobacter contamination of chickens in New
Zealand, scientists say “funding problems, covert
bullying and a lack of co-operation from the poultry
industry” are discouraging research into the
risks. The chicken industry and New Zealand Food Safety
Authority counter that they are working hard and devoting
resources toward resolving the problems, but that
there are no easy solutions. Read more at: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaystartimes/0,2106,3741041a6442,00.html

7.
SYMPOSIUM: ETHICS AND ANIMAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

“Ethics and Animal Biotechnology:
How Do We Plan for the Future?” is a public
symposium, sponsored by Michigan State University
and the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology,
to be held in Washington, D.C. on October 18th. The
symposium “will provide an overview of the ethical
implications of creating and using cloned or genetically
engineered animals in agriculture and of utilizing
genetically engineered agricultural animals for biomedical
or industrial purposes.” Ample opportunity for
participation by all attendees is planned. Registration
is free, but pre-registration is required and space
is limited. For more information, or to register,
go to: http://
pewagbiotech.org/events/1018/